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Last Year for NSWCSRU Championships

It is with great regret that we announce 2014 to be the last year of the annual Country Schools Championships to select sides to attend the NSW Selection Trials.

This decision, not taken lightly, is a result of the changing landscape of schoolboy rugby union in NSW. NSW Country Schools was set up in 1977 specifically to address the lack of opportunity for regionally based players to gain access to NSW Schools representative teams. These opportunities have improved through other pathways in the ensuing years with the Independent Schools Association (ISA), Combined High Schools (CHS), Combined Catholic Colleges (CCC) and more recently the Association of Independent Co-Educational Schools (AICES) all offering pathways for boys in regional schools.

Despite the ongoing success of the Country Schools Championships as both a pathway to higher representative honours and a representative experience in itself for regional players, it has become unviable to continue as a pathway to NSW Schools with the regional development of these other pathways.

Highlights from the 38 year history of Country Schools include:• 37 Championships at venues from Bathurst to Narrabeen, Tamworth and Armidale• 14 players who have gone on to represent Australian Schools• 9 players who have gone on to represent the Wallabies• Hosting of 14 international matches against touring national schoolboy sides from England, Fiji, Ireland, Tonga, Samoa and Japan in venues including Nowra, Parkes, Wagga Wagga, Singleton, Newcastle, Maitland, Campbelltown, Tamworth, Tweed Heads, Lismore and Armidale • 11 international development tours to South Africa, New Zealand, Western Samoa, Canada, Fiji, USA and Singapore

The Committee would like to thank all those who have contributed to the New South Wales Country Schools Rugby Union during the thirty eight year journey.

NSW Country Schools Versus Fijian Schools

NORTHERN rugby enthusiasts will have the chance to see an international clash in their region next week when The Armidale School hosts a clash between the NSW Country Schoolboys and the touring Fijian Schoolboys XV.

The match, on Monday 23 September with a kickoff at 2.30pm, will be the first game on tour for the Fiji boys, before they play New Zealand Schools, Australia A Schools and Australian Schools.

It will be a home-ground affair for five members of NSW Schoolboys, with TAS First XV captain Will Frost being joined by schoolmates Jackson Gilbey (both Armidale), Lachlan McCormick (Wingham), Lachlan Mack (Bingara) and Ian Ranger (Gravesend). Frost, Gilbey and McCormick got a taste of Pacific rugby during a development tour in April, when Gilbey was named player of the tour. Gilbey will run on as vice-captain on Monday.

The fixture has attracted some notable rugby figures, with NSW Waratah and Wallaby Paddy Ryan, former Wallaby and current Northern Suburb’s coach Scott Fava and ARU’s General Manager – Development Ben Whitaker making the trip to Armidale to attend a dinner on Sunday night and cheer on the Country boys on the day.

“This will be a great opportunity for all the boys to play a quality international game, and it is a privilege for TAS and Armidale to host such a high-calibre fixture,” NSW Country Schools Team Manager Jim Pennington said.